


Guns and Roses

by bukkunkun



Series: Alternate [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Guns, M/M, Sexy Tatoos, Time Travel, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-22
Updated: 2012-07-22
Packaged: 2017-11-10 11:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/465978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bukkunkun/pseuds/bukkunkun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all happened in a flash. One minute, Alfred was having a go at zombies on his PS3, and the next thing he knew, he was face-to-face with one, gurgling disgustingly at him as it lunged at him. USUK AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guns and Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Moved here from LJ/FF.net. Prompt: Gunslingers VS. Zombies!AU with Gun expert in tiny sexy leather shorts!Arthur and Newbie!Alfred

It all happened in a flash.

 

One minute, Alfred was having a go at zombies on his PS3, and the next thing he knew, he was face-to-face with one, gurgling disgustingly at him as it lunged at him, and the blonde teen’s eyes widened.

 

 _Freaking hell, this bullshit is not happening_ , he thought to himself exasperatedly, as he leaned backwards in shock, dropping the wireless controller he held in his shaking hands, as he let out a scream—

 

Three gunshots rang in his ears, half-deafening him, and the zombie about to bite him suddenly slumped down on top of him, having its brains blasted out—right all over him.

 

Alfred panted heavily, pulling himself upright, still shaking in both shock and fear when someone stepped into his field of vision. Alfred blinked and his eyes focused to see a pair of creamy white legs standing right in front of him. The right thigh had a tattoo of a Tudor rose. He looked up to see who had saved him.

 

Beautiful vibrant green eyes looked down at him. They belonged to a fair-skinned young man (most likely in his early twenties, Alfred guessed) with a rather effeminate body structure. His body was long and lanky, yet petite like a girl’s, and his face was slightly heart-shaped. Brilliant eyebrows knotted together and brow creased under a mop of tousled sandy blonde hair, the man offered his hand to Alfred.

 

He blinked blankly, and suddenly he realised how… revealing what the blonde was wearing was. He wore black, slim, form-fitting leather _short_ shorts that were barely two inches lower than his crotch, displaying creamy white toned legs—the tattoo easy to see, clear as day; the Tudor rose was a vibrant shade of red (borderline fresh-blood-red) and its thorny stem (green almost like the man’s eyes) snaked down the side of his thigh until it reached the back of the man’s knee. His tank top was also made of leather and there was a loose collar around his neck.

 

“Come on, up,” he ordered, snapping Alfred out of his trance. Alfred realised the blonde had a British accent. Alfred took his hand and the blonde pulled him up to his feet—and suddenly turned to fire at an approaching zombie with his semi-automatic machine gun. The zombie fell, its brains oozing out of its head, and the blonde turned his attention back to Alfred. “Run over there, don’t stop until you get to base,” he said, before pushing Alfred in the direction of a nearby walled fortress. Alfred didn’t need to be told twice and broke out into a full sprint. He could hear the blonde running after him, shooting rounds left and right until they reached the campsite. Alfred realised it was surrounded by a tall wall with barbed wires at its top. He kept running forward, and straight through the open gates, where another blonde man was beckoning them in, yelling at them to hurry (Alfred heard a French accent from the man).

 

After the blonde with the gun rushed into the fortress, the gates immediately clamped shut. Alfred skidded to a halt. The blonde crashed into him, and the two of them tumbled to the ground.

 

The French man was laughing.

 

“Fabulous entry, _mon lapin_ ,” he laughed, as the blonde got off Alfred, groaning. “Well done.”

 

“Shut it!” the green-eyed blonde hissed at him, standing up, before turning his attention to Alfred. “So, are you the one?”

 

“H-huh, what?” Alfred blinked and the two men looked down at him expectantly. “… W-wait, what are you guys talking about, I’m not—”

 

“Is your name Alfred F. Jones?” the green-eyed blonde snapped at him, and Alfred nodded, gulping in fear.

 

“Y-yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?” Alfred asked.

 

“Well, you see, _mon ami_ ,” The Frenchman spoke up, patting Alfred’s shoulder. “It has to do with _everything_.”

 

“The year is 2025,” the Brit cut in, glaring at the Frenchman. “We’ve pulled you out from your time because we need you.”

 

Alfred gaped at them. “T-t-2025?!” he gasped, and the two sighed.

 

“Hmm, should have broken it to him a little more gently, eh?” a familiar voice asked, and Alfred turned to see his cousin Matthew—well, at least, a much older version of him, 13 years older, to be precise.

 

“Mattie?” he asked, blinking, and the blonde man chuckled, before helping him to his feet.

 

“Yeah, it’s me.” Matthew smiled at him, patting his shoulder reassuringly. “You see, the zombies out there—I’m sure Arthur had you acquainted with them,” Matthew nodded in the green-eyed Brit’s direction, Alfred turned to look at him, but Arthur averted his eyes, “They’re all being created by a plant a few kilometres away from this camp,” he gestured behind him, where rows and rows of tents and small makeshift buildings stood in the entire perimeter of the walls. Alfred gaped at them in wonder.

 

“S-so, um, you said this is the future?” Alfred asked, and Matthew nodded. “Then where am I?”

 

“O-oh, well, you’re…”

 

“Dead,” Arthur deadpanned, and Alfred whipped his head around to face him, shocked. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. That moment when we pulled you out? That time where you were playing some silly game—”

 

“I’ll have you know COD: Black Ops is a freakin’ awesome game!”

 

Arthur rolled his eyes, “That time when you were playing that, you were supposed to be assassinated.” Alfred gaped at him.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you’re the only one who can stop this,” Matthew continued, “You’re the only one who can shut down that facility.”

 

Alfred gaped at the three men standing around him.

 

“… I need a moment.”

 

\---

 

Alfred had been ushered into some tent he couldn’t tell apart from the others, and there he settled down on a rickety bed, a sigh escaping his lips.

 

He’s dead now? In this time frame? How could he possibly be the only one who can stop this? This, this… madness?

 

Alfred lay back on his bed, hundreds of thoughts going through his mind. Why him, out of all people? Why couldn’t _they_ handle it by themselves? What went wrong?

 

He sighed again, and turned so he was lying on his side, the bed creaking slightly as he did.

 

… _That Arthur guy was really pretty._

 

Alfred blinked. “… I did _not_ just think that.”

 

_Oh, and he’s actually pretty sexy, too. Those legs…_

 

Alfred sat upright, face red. “Aw, man. Seriously?”

 

He had known he was gay for some time now, but right now wasn’t really the proper time to be thinking about such things! Lives were at stake here!

 

… Lives were at stake. Alfred looked down at his hands and lazily inspected them.

 

This would be an excellent time to do what he actually wanted, really. He’d always wanted to be a hero, and now that there was this chance being presented to him… he felt compelled to do something.

 

“Oh, for the love of God, Francis!” Alfred heard Arthur yell from outside, snapping him out of his reverie. Curious, Alfred stood up and lifted the flap of his tent aside to see the two blondes he met standing outside his tent, the Frenchman (the Francis Arthur was yelling at, Alfred guessed) holding the Brit by the shoulders in an iron grip, seemingly forcing the smaller blonde to enter Alfred’s tent.

 

“Well, what do you know,” Francis smirked, and a blush spread across Arthur’s face. The Brit struggled even more to get out of Francis’ grip. “It’s the man himself. _Bonjour_ , Alfred.”

 

“H-hi. Mind telling me what you two are up to here?”

 

“Him,” Francis simply stated, gesturing at Arthur, before pushing the blonde at Alfred, running away.

 

“H-hey! Get back here, wanker!”

 

“U-um, hey…” Alfred spoke up, and Arthur turned so fast Alfred feared the blonde’s head might snap off. Arthur looked up at Alfred with slightly wild eyes, and Alfred laughed sheepishly. “… Uh, you guys did mention I was the only one who could help out, right?”

 

Arthur’s eyes widened. “You’ve finally sorted yourself out, then.”

 

“Pretty much.” Alfred nodded, a smile crossing his face, and much to his surprise, so did Arthur’s. A lovely smile crossed the blonde’s face, and his green eyes lit up beautifully. Alfred found himself staring at Arthur.

 

“That’s wonderful.” Arthur breathed, and Alfred’s mind began to not function.

 

“Yeah, and so are you,” he replied, not thinking, and Arthur froze.

 

“… Excuse me?”

 

“I-I-I mean, shit, uh, c-can I talk to Matt? Let’s get this shit done.” Alfred grinned weakly at Arthur, and the green-eyed blonde blushed slightly.

 

“R-right,” he nodded, turning to hide the blush that now grew on his pale face. “Follow me.”

 

\---

 

“This is wonderful, Al,” Matthew smiled at his cousin, and Alfred weakly nodded. “Don’t worry; we’ll have the best backing you up. They’ll definitely keep you safe the entire way through.”

 

“But Matthew,” Arthur spoke up, “We can’t have too many people storming that hold.” A frown marred his features. “You know what happened last time when we just tried to get the info about the core that we needed.”

 

A heavy silence spread throughout the tent, and Alfred swallowed.

 

“S-setting aside that for now, what’s the plan of action?”

 

“R-right,” Matthew nodded, before laying out a map of the facility on the table they were standing around. “You need to get to the core,” he pointed at a large structure on the top floor of the facility, “And shut it down. That will stop the production of the zombies definitely. After that, you can haul your ass out of there, because that’s all you’ll need to be doing.” Matthew turned to address Francis. “You’ll be leading two teams with Kiku,” he said, and the Frenchman nodded. “You’ll be standing by at the east and west entrances, and storm that hellhole for all it’s worth the second Alfred shuts down that core. Clear out as many of them as you can, and secure Alfred’s route out.”

 

“ _Oui_.” Francis nodded, before turning to leave—

 

“Oh, and be careful.” Matthew spoke up. “To you and Kiku both. I’ll be leading the storm from the centre entrance.”

 

“Roger that,” Francis smiled at him, before waving at Arthur and Alfred. “ _Au revoir_.” He smiled at them. “I wish you two the best of luck.”

 

“… You too.” Arthur spoke up after a moment, and Francis chuckled, before stepping out of the tent.

 

“Now, about you, Alfred,” Matthew spoke up, and the blue-eyed blonde snapped to attention. “I know Uncle George was a military man… are you one too?”

 

“You bet!” Alfred grinned. “Dad’s taught me how to use a gun.”

 

“I hope you’ll be comfortable with semi-automatic machine guns.” Matthew grinned. Alfred laughed.

 

“Oh, trust me. I can’t freaking wait to get my hands on those the moment I saw Artie here handling them like a pro.”

 

Arthur averted his eyes and a blush spread across his cheeks. Matthew smiled knowingly, before he nodded. “Okay. You and Arthur will make your way to the core together. Like Arthur said, we can’t have too many people running around while you two storm that hold, got it?”

 

Alfred nodded. “I just have one question.”

 

“Shoot.”

 

“Why me? Why does it have to be specifically me?”

 

“That…” Matthew bit his lip, faltering. “I think it’s best for you to find out yourself.”

 

Alfred frowned, raising an eyebrow, but he didn’t press for more, and instead, he stood up. “Come on, Artie, let’s get suited up.”

 

“D-don’t call me that,” Arthur protested, but followed Alfred out of the tent.

 

\---

 

Alfred couldn’t stop staring as he watched Arthur prepare. The blonde was currently pulling on a pair of high heeled boots that went up to his knees. He lifted his foot on a bench and tightened the laces and tied them securely. Alfred’s eyes trailed down Arthur’s exposed thighs, his eyes following the patterns on the Tudor rose that stood out against Arthur’s pale skin.

 

“See something you like?” Arthur spoke up, and Alfred almost dropped the gun in his hands in surprise. The Brit chuckled, lowering his foot and testing his balance on them.

 

“U-uh, you weren’t wearing those when I met you.”

 

“Oh, these?” Arthur patted his wedge-heels. “Well, I didn’t need them when I came to get you.”

 

“W-well, um,” Alfred swallowed. “I thought wearing heels was difficult, especially in the battlefield?”

 

Arthur grinned knowingly. “Oh, I’ll assure you you’ll be thankful I put these on.”

 

“… Right.” Alfred nodded after a moment of internal debate. Arthur pulled on a knapsack that had a few medical kits and ammunition in it.

 

“Are you ready?” he asked, gesturing at Alfred’s current state, as he strapped on holsters to either of his thighs, before slotting two Glock 18’s in them. For good measure, Arthur also slipped an army knife into the slot at the left side of his shorts.

 

“You a leftie?” Alfred asked, feeling rather unprepared at his own arsenal—he had a standard-issue HK416 semi-automatic machine gun slung over his shoulder and an ACR in his hands.

 

“If you mean left-handed, then yes. I see _you’re_ right-handed.” Arthur replied offhandedly, as he picked up an MP5SD3 submachine gun. “And, you’re rather unprepared, aren’t you?” he shook his head, gesturing at the weapons crate with the submachine gun. “Go get yourself something else. At least a handgun or something.”

 

Alfred did as he was told and picked up a USP from the crate, after setting down the ACR. He shoved it into his back pocket, before gathering ammunition for his three guns. He threw them all in a bag and pulled it on, before picking up the semiautomatic machine gun.

 

“Packing heavy artillery, are we?” Matthew spoke up from the entrance of the tent. Arthur chuckled.

 

“Of course. I have to make sure Alfred lives, you know.” He replied, patting Alfred’s shoulder. “Right?”

 

“Y-yeah.” Alfred nodded. “Oh, we might need these,” he offered, picking up a few grenades with his free hands.

 

“In the bags they go,” Arthur said, and Alfred put four of them in his.

 

“What about flash bangs?”

 

“We’re fighting zombies, Al.” Matthew laughed. “You seriously think _flash bangs_ will impair them?”

 

“It’s worth trying.” Alfred pouted, and the two blondes laughed.

 

\---

 

It was like Call of Duty all over again—and this time, it was for real.

 

As Alfred and Arthur pushed onwards, spilling lead into the brains of zombies left and right, Alfred got a glimpse of how it was like in the battlefield. He was panting by the time they reached the entrance of the facility. Arthur barrelled forward, Alfred close behind and slowly but surely they made it through to the highest floor of the facility.

 

Arthur skidded to a halt, gasping, and Alfred slowed down behind him.

 

“What’s wro—”

 

The question died on his lips when Alfred saw what Arthur did—the entrance to the core was blocked by a vicious amount of freshly-made zombies, their flesh still dripping and just beginning to rot.

 

The green-eyed blonde pulled a face, before shoving his submachine gun into Alfred’s free hand. “Well, well. I finally get to use the bloody heels.” He grinned, and Alfred blinked at him.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You’re excused, Jones.” Arthur smirked, bending low. “You can have fun with my baby Mint Bunny for now. I’m going to give you a show you won’t forget.”

 

“Wha—” Alfred began to say, fumbling to grip the two guns in his hands properly, stumbling slightly.

 

“One at a time, love,” Arthur spoke up, “You wouldn’t want to hit me.” he winked at Alfred over his shoulder, before jumping up high, pulling out his Glock 18’s and pointing them down at the zombies below him.

 

Suddenly four gunshots rang in Alfred’s ears and he blinked when he saw the heels of Arthur’s boots smoking. His eyes widened as he swung his ACR onto his shoulder, before cocking the submachine gun. “Your _shoes_ are guns too?!” he yelled up at Arthur, who was now shooting and stepping on the zombies’ heads simultaneously, staying in the air by pushing off the zombies and by the force generated by the recoil from his boots.

 

Alfred opened fire on zombies approaching him, still in awe at Arthur’s surprise weapons.

 

“Holy shit, you’re like freaking Bayonetta!”

 

“Who?” Arthur called over his gunshots from both his shoes and his handguns.

 

“Never mind! I’ll tell you all about her later!” Alfred laughed. “Man, this is so awesome!”

 

“I’d like to hear you say that when I tell you the death toll this insanity has caused,” Arthur called over at him, and Alfred’s mood dampened.

 

“Well, there’s that.”

 

“Enough of that and help me finish them off so we can get to the bloody core already!”

 

“Of course, babe!” Alfred winked up at Arthur, and the blonde almost lost his footing when he narrowly missed stepping on the head on one zombie.

 

\---

 

They manage to get into the core room, Arthur locking the door behind him, preventing the zombies from entering as Alfred walked over to the edge of the ledge they were standing on, and awed, he looked down to see the core—a small blue ball fizzing with energy.

 

“That’s the core,” Arthur spoke up, walking up next to Alfred.

 

“How do we pull the plug?”

 

Arthur pointed to the room down the walkway, and together, they went inside. Upon entering Alfred’s eyes widened.

 

The room was full of pictures of him—smiling, laughing, sleeping, eating, crying, _everything_. Chills ran down Alfred’s spine as Arthur walked up to the walls, where almost ever square inch was covered with papers that bore Alfred’s face.

 

“Wh-what is this…?”

 

“The scientist who developed this facility… his name was Ivan Braginski. This was his office.”

 

“Braginski? That weird Russian guy from next door?”

 

Arthur didn’t say anything about Alfred’s comment. “He had a… small obsession.” He said, brushing slim fingers down a picture of Alfred, smiling brightly as he held up the championship trophy for the national American Football league. “He had a… unfortunate attachment with his high school’s golden boy that was never reciprocated.”

 

Alfred, jaw lax, walked up next to Arthur, who looked up at him, a small blush on his face.

 

“And frankly, I can’t help but sympathize with him.” He said, before moving away from Alfred, who gaped at him.

 

“W-wait, did you just say that you’re…”

 

“He was a brilliant man, who excelled in science.” Arthur cut him off, “He was working on a serum that could reanimate corpses. It had worked for animals—his pet dog came back to life, and everything was alright. A company agreed to fund his research and built this facility to mass-induce the drug—but no one had any idea how terrible its side-effects were.”

 

“… Holy shit.”

 

“It causes degeneration of cells, but the body remains animated.” Arthur turned to look at Alfred. “It’s communicative, too, like a virus. If you get bitten—”

 

“You turn into one of them too.” Alfred breathed. “I remember hearing him talk about it one day. I had no idea he was serious about it.”

 

“Yes,” Arthur nodded, “He developed the core. It’s a nuclear one, and there’s only one way to deactivate it without it having a meltdown. It’s locked with a special lock, but the key… it’s very difficult to obtain.”

 

“… And you’re saying I have it?”

 

“… Alfred, you _are_ the key.” Arthur replied, “It’s locked with a DNA lock. We need your DNA to unlock it, but…”

 

“You said I was assassinated in your timeline.” Alfred said, “Is that why? But Ivan needed an emergency shutdown key or something…”

 

“That’s the thing. The heads of the company didn’t want the production to stop, ever, because it was raking in the money by the bucket loads, before they found out about the side effect. They needed to get rid of the very thing that could bring it to a stop, you.”

 

Alfred bit his lip. “… What part of me do you need?”

 

“You don’t have to be so worried.” Arthur smiled reassuringly at him. “It’s just your hair. That was all Ivan had with him, anyway.”

 

“I’m not going to even ask how he managed to get my hair,” Alfred chuckled dryly, and Arthur chuckled as well, shaking his head. “Well, then. Let’s get this shit over and done with. Where’s the keyhole?”

 

“Here,” Arthur beckoned him over to the table where there were papers strewn about. The blonde brushed them aside and revealed a small hole in the corner. “We have to drop a strand of your hair into the hole and it will go straight into the core. That will shut it down, I’m sure of it.”

 

Alfred nodded, and Arthur pulled out his army knife before handing it to Alfred. The blue-eyed blonde sliced off a strand of his hair and slipped it into the hole. The two blondes stood in silence, patiently waiting for the hair to reach the lock—

 

“ _Emergency shutdown commencing._ ” The computer’s voice boomed above them, and the two shared gleeful looks.

 

“We did it!” Alfred cheered, before pulling Arthur into a tight hug. The green-eyed Brit spluttered, flustered, and wriggled in Alfred’s embrace.

 

“L-let me go! G-git!”

 

Suddenly, the voice spoke up again.

 

“ _Error. Emergency shutdown overwritten. The facility will now self-destruct in five minutes._ ”

 

Alfred and Arthur froze, before looking at each other, shocked looks on their faces.

 

“… Run!”

 

\---

 

Francis froze upon hearing the announcement ringing above his head. Panicked, he pulled out his radio and ordered all his men to get out of the facility as fast as they could. They sprang into action, and soon they were making their hasty retreat. As he ran, he radioed Kiku’s team.

 

“Kiku! Are you getting out of here?”

 

“ _Getting to it,_ ” the man’s voice crackled from the other side. “ _This is shocking to hear. I hope Arthur-san and Alfred-san make it out alive_.”

 

“Me too. You make sure you get yourself out safely.”

 

“ _You too, Francis-san._ ”

 

Francis then proceeded to radio Matthew.

 

“Matthieu?” he asked.

 

“ _Getting out of here, yeah, yeah!_ ” the blonde’s voice on the other side called, and the Frenchman chuckled. “ _How about you?_ ”

 

“Doing the exact same.” Francis replied. “But… what about Alfred and Arthur?”

 

There was silence on the other side.

 

“Matthieu?”

 

“ _Hope for the best and expect the worst. Over and out._ ”

 

\---

 

Hand-in-hand, Alfred and Arthur ran out of the core room to encounter more zombies. Alfred gave Arthur a boost and he was back in the air, shooting with both his hands and his feet, clearing a pathway for Alfred to progress through. He himself was shooting left and right—the two guns, the submachine gun in his right and the semiautomatic in his left—haphazardly, the weight of the two guns in his arms greatly affecting his aiming. They hit anything and everything, but at least they kept the zombies at bay. They covered each other’s backs whenever they reloaded, but they couldn’t make it very far from the core room.

 

“ _Self-destruction in two minutes._ ”

 

“Holy shit!” Alfred yelled, kicking aside the dead zombie, looking up to see Arthur had stopped jumping around on zombie heads to reload his shoes and handguns. Alfred ran to his side to cover him as he did so.

 

“What do we do now?” Arthur panted, “We’ve only got a minute to go.”

 

“I don’t know,” Alfred admitted, “If this was a game, I’d just do this all over again if I screw up.” he smiled bitterly down at Arthur, “Too bad it isn’t. I won’t even get to hear how the hell you guys managed to incorporate guns into high heels.”

 

“Technological innovation,” Arthur smirked. “Brought to you by Kiku Honda.”

 

Alfred chuckled—and then his eyes widened. “I have an idea. Give me your radio.”

 

Arthur raised an eyebrow, and Alfred turned to shoot at an approaching zombie. “We might want to go somewhere safe.”

 

“Back to the office?” Arthur offered, and Alfred shot him a desperate look. “I’m serious!”

 

“Alright, alright!” Alfred shook his head, before the two made their way back to the core room, running down the path of corpses they made for themselves.

 

\---

 

Alfred and Arthur burst back into Ivan Braginski’s room, and the blue-eyed teen locked the door behind soundly, panting heavily. “R-radio.” He said, and Arthur unclipped it from his belt and handed it to him.

 

“M-Matt? Can you read me? Where are you guys?”

 

“ _We’re making our way back to the camp! Where are you two?_ ”

 

“Still inside.” Alfred chuckled sadly, and Arthur eyed him worriedly as he took a seat on Ivan’s desk, crossing his legs.

 

“ _What?! Why aren’t the two of you trying to get out?!_ ”

 

“Matt, Matt. Calm down, I have an idea.”

 

“ _I don’t know, Al, when you get ideas…_ ”

 

“I swear this one will work…” Alfred glanced at Arthur who gave him an encouraging glance. “… Hopefully.”

 

“ _Alfred!_ ”

 

“Look, just get the time machine thing you used to get me here and get me back. I’m sure I’ll be okay.”

 

“ _And what about Arthur?_ ”

 

“I’ll take him with me.” Alfred smiled at Arthur, and the green-eyed blonde blushed. “I’m sure he won’t mind.”

 

“ _… Arthur?_ ”

 

“… I-I’m alright with it, yes,” Arthur nodded hesitantly, and Alfred patted the blonde’s shoulder.

 

“Don’t worry about us. You guys concentrate on getting rid of those zombies, ‘kay?”

 

“ _… Stay safe_.”

 

“You too.” Alfred lowered the radio and looked at Arthur. “Well, I guess that’s that.”

 

“And now, we wait?” Arthur asked, patting the area next to him. “Sit down.”

 

“Thanks.” Alfred nodded, taking a seat next to Arthur. They sat there for a while in awkward silence, only to be broken by the computer’s voice speaking up again.

 

“ _Self-destruction in thirty seconds._ ”

 

“ _Alfred_ ,” Arthur spoke up, and the teen realised he was shaking. “I can honestly say I’m rather frightened.”

 

“You think this isn’t going to work?” Alfred asked, and Arthur looked up at him.

 

“…Yes. I don’t want to die yet. What if only you got back, or what if they don’t make it in time—”

 

“Okay.”

 

Arthur’s eyes widened when he felt Alfred’s hand cup over his. He turned his head to look up at the taller blonde. Alfred smiled down at him. “I guess the only thing I can say is that if anything goes wrong, I’ll do whatever I can to try and protect you.”

 

“Even when the source of the blast will be right underneath us?” Arthur chuckled dryly, and Alfred smiled sadly.

 

“It’s the thought that counts.” The blue-eyed teen chuckled. “You know how they say that people are more likely to fall in love with each other when they’ve been through dangerous situations?”

 

They stared at each other for a moment, a blush spreading across Arthur’s cheeks.

 

“I think that might be true.” Alfred smiled sheepishly at Arthur, before pulling him into a hug. The green-eyed blonde tensed momentarily, but then relaxed into Alfred’s torso and gingerly wrapped his arms around him as well.

 

“ _Self-destruction in five, four, three…_ ”

 

Arthur and Alfred’s grip tightened on each other as they braced themselves.

 

“ _Two… one…_ ”

 

\---

 

It all happened in a flash.

 

Suddenly Alfred found himself sitting in his gaming chair again, the sounds of gunshots and yelling coming from the widescreen TV across him jolting him out of his reverie. He opened his eyes, and he blinked.

 

Was that all just a…

 

 _No, it wasn’t,_ Alfred’s mind told him, when he looked down in his arms to find Arthur still clinging onto him for dear life. A relieved smile crossed his face.

 

They’d made it.

 

“Art. Artie! Arthur!” Alfred cheered, delighted, shaking the blonde in his arms out of his reverie. “We made it!”

 

Arthur lifted his head from Alfred’s shoulder and blinked up at him. “… We’re alive.”

 

“Yeah! And we’re—!”

 

Suddenly his door exploded behind him and he and Arthur ducked.

 

“They’re here. The men sent to kill you.” Arthur hissed, and Alfred’s eyes widened—

 

Four gunshots rang through the air, and four bodies fell down. Arthur lowered his hands still holding onto his trusty Glock 18’s (named Sherlock and John, Alfred later found out) and tucked his feet back in under him.

 

“That was _amazing_.” Alfred breathed, looking at the dead assassins at the doorway.

 

“Well, it seems I’ve averted something?” Arthur chuckled, “Or maybe, I’ve just made things worse.”

 

“If they come back, I know who _I’m_ calling.”

 

Arthur blinked at him, and chuckling, Alfred pecked him on the lips.

 

“I hope you’re staying a little longer, babe. My apartment gets lonely at night.”

 

After a moment of blank staring, Arthur eventually smiled. “Oh, fine. But only because you’re a git that’s an assassin magnet.”

 

“Ooh, I like the ass part.”

 

“Brat.” Arthur chuckled, before pulling him in for a proper kiss.

 

 


End file.
